The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with the Jamaica Energy Resilience Alliance (JERA) and its members LASCO Distributors Limited (LASCO), the University of the West Indies (UWI) and The Cadmus Group Limited (CADMUS), are pleased to invite you to celebrate the successful completion of the UWI/LASCO Solar PV and Solar Storage Pilot Project, serving LASCO's facilities and the adjacent community center.

The UWI/LASCO Solar PV and Solar Storage Pilot Project is a demonstration of the successful collaboration between the Governments of the United States and Jamaica, the private sector, and the academic community. The systems were conceived by the University of the West Indies—Mona, executed by LASCO with technical support from UWI, and supported by USAID and JERA. USAID funded a portion both of the equipment and of UWI technical support. 

This system will be among the largest private sector solar storage installations of its kind in Jamaica and will provide valuable experience-in-use for UWI to address crucial technical and economic research questions regarding the utilization of utility-scale batteries in distributive generation, thereby informing broader deployment of similar systems at the national level, directly contributing to Jamaica’s Vision 2030 and climate mitigation goals. The community center system will supply power for lighting, computers, phone charging and other devices when the grid may be down and demonstrates the value and feasibility of resilient power for such facilities. 

The event will include remarks from representatives of the Government of Jamaica, USAID, LASCO, and UWI, an official tour of the LASCO facilities, a demonstration of PV and PV+ systems, and a celebration ceremony. A light luncheon will be provided.

Please RSVP by March 22nd, 2024. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Fayona Ferguson at jamaicaenergy@cadmusgroup.com or (876) 995-7282.

This event is hosted by LASCO with support from USAID under Strengthening Energy Sector Resilience in Jamaica (SESR-Jamaica), a programme of USAID/Jamaica and the Jamaica Energy Resilience Alliance.

SESR-Jamaica strengthens the ability of Jamaica’s energy sector to withstand or rebound quickly from a natural or human-made shock by supporting the development of enabling environments to encourage and facilitate the adoption of distributed and resilient renewable energy technologies, specifically solar photovoltaics (PV) and PV with battery storage (PV+). 

JERA is led by The Cadmus Group, a US-based energy, resilience, and environmental consultancy with a long history of successful support to renewable and resilient energy in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Other JERA members are the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association (JHTA), the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), LASCO Manufacturing and Distribution (LASCO), Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Wigton Windfarms Limited (Wigton), WRB Energy (WRB), the University of the West Indies—Mona (UWI) and their partner Green Solutions International SKN Incorporated (GSI), and Xergy Energy (Xergy). All members are committed to a more resilient, renewable Jamaican energy sector. 

For more information about JERA and SESR-Jamaica, please visit https://cadmusgroup.com/cp/jamaicaenergy/.